24 of the best free alternatives to the most popular paid software
24 of the best free alternatives to the most popular paid software
You don't have to pay for professional software to complete simple tasks. Here are our favorite free software programs for getting work done.
Note that these are not all FOSS.
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Photo Editing:
- GIMP
- Krita
- Paint.NET
-
Video Editing:
- DaVinci Resolve
- CapCut
- Shotcut
-
Audio Editing:
- Audacity
- Cakewalk
- GarageBand
-
3D Graphics:
- Blender
- Spline
- Rumba
-
Office Software:
- LibreOffice
- Microsoft 365 Free Apps
- WPS Office
-
Antivirus Software:
- Windows Security
- Avast Free Antivirus
- Malwarebytes
-
Productivity Tools:
- Bitwarden
- VSCodium
- PDF-XChange Editor
- 7-Zip
- OBS Studio
- LanguageTool
Avast? Bruh
I always recommend Windows Defender and a good sense of Internet security to anyone who uses a computer.
If you're dumb, no antivirus can protect you. If you're reasonably intelligent, any antivirus will protect you.
Avast should not be recommended.
In late 2019, Avast browser extensions were found to collect user data, including browsing behavior and history, and send it to a remote server. The discovery led to the extensions of the Avast and AVG brands being temporarily removed from the Google Chrome, Firefox and Opera extension stores, however, they returned a short time later as there was no concrete evidence that demonstrated a breach of private data of the users.
In January 2020, a joint investigation by Motherboard and PCMag found that the Avast Antivirus and AVG AntiVirus Free version were collecting user data, which was being resold to personalize advertising through a subsidiary, Jumpshot. The leaked documents showed that Jumpshot offered to provide its customers with "Every search. Every click. On every site." from more than 100 million compromised devices. In response, Avast announced on January 30, 2020, that it would immediately shut down Jumpshot and cease all operations due to the backlash of its users' data privacy.
On the basis of the information revealed, on 11 February 2020 the Czech Office for Personal Data Protection announced that it had initiated a preliminary investigation.
In February 2024, the Federal Trade Commission fined Avast $16.5 million for collecting user data and reselling that data. The collection was done under their program to ensure that such collection of user data was not happening.
Blender is hardly an alternative, it’s the clear #1
Avast is virus itself
Yeah, just use the one built-in to Windows, or don't use Windows.
I'd like to add KdenLive to the Video Editing point.
I successfully edited a video with it having never done so before, which I think speaks to how well it's designed. There's definitely a tiny learning curve, but it's a kiddy coaster.
KDEnlive is way easier then divinci
I love KdenLive!
How’s the performance, size and features compared to Premiere?
I find Premiere to be a bit of a pain in the ass sometimes and pretty slow, but I didn’t like Davinci + I’m paying for Adobe anyway.
I recommend Okular for PDF reading. No ads, no upsells, no BS. It also has native dark mode
Gwenview has always worked well for me.
I like Atril too. It has easier and more fluid zoom in/out capabilities than Okular but Okular has a dark mode. I keep both installed because they're both really good.
I only discovered Krita recently, but holy shit does it fill the Photoshop void very well. The UI isn't the same as PS, obviously. But I find it much easier to navigate than Gimp's UI. And Krita is surprisingly feature-rich.
I like Krita. But to be honest, after years and years of using GIMP, I ironically have nothing but trouble trying to rewire my brain to do things any other way. The same problem that many people have when moving from Photoshop to GIMP.
Also, i fundamentally need DDS files, which Krita (AFAIK) doesn't handle.
You should totally get on some PS forums and start bitching about its UI being 'backward and unusable' compared to GIMP :)
I've just found out about kitra right now but from the site it says it's mostly focused are drawing and stuff like that so would photo editing be netter with something like rawtherapee?
If you're working with RAW files, neither Gimp nor Krita are the tool for you.
I use Darktable to adjust global things like brightness, contrast, white balance and so on, then export to Krita or Gimp for more granular local modifications.Yeah it's definitely more of a souped up Paint app than photo editor.
*Tenacity, not Audacity
Doesn't that apply to every project hosted in America, too, though? Every project is subject to the jurisdiction in which it is hosted. And I know they're not the only project that accepts error reports and in-app updates. Unless there is more telemetry involved or tracking of out-of-app activity, I'm not seeing cause for alarm here. Though I'm open to evidence that there is.
Some of us use FOSS because of access to the source and the benefits of an all FOSS system. Not because it's zero cost. This list is just zero cost and some happen to be FOSS.
Gratis rather than libre.
They aren’t even free. CapCut, for instance, requires a subscription to access most of the features.
Throw in KDEnlive for video editors.
Permanently Deleted
2D/3D Simulation/Game creation Godot :)
you forgot linux as an alternative to windows and mac;)
Although not technically free, I would add Reaper to the list for audio editing. It gives you a pop-up asking if you want to buy the program, but it's not required. I know people who have been using it for years without actually purchasing it. (I have since purchased a license because I use it professionally). No features are locked behind the paid license.
Reminder than Tenacity is an open-source fork of Audacity.
Audacity isn't open source? I thought I installed it from the Debian free repo...
It is open source, but had some controversy. Most prominently the addition of telemetry a few years ago, which was never included in the builds managed by Debian or most other distro maintainers. They also added a Contributor License Agreement which lets the Audacity project change its own license (even to a non-foss one, though they promise they won't) without needing to have the change approved by any individual developers.
Audacity is open source, but they had a few controversies recently.
Take CapCut off because it's more like TikTok editing than video editing.
Divinci has a learning curve but any curve is better than learning solely on a ByteDance owned product.
also, davinci is industry standard and highly respected
I'd like to add OpenShot to the video editing category
These are alternatives? This is essentially a list of software that I use.
About the only problem I have with Paint.NET is that it doesn’t keep text as editable sprites, but immediately rasterizes them the moment focus is removed off of them. This sets text in stone, preventing any further modification (font changes, etc.) and forcing you to completely delete the text and start over from scratch for even the tiniest alteration after the fact.
In every other respect this is a brilliant program, but for the text issue which is a complete retard sniffing glue and chewing on crayons.
I know it's not a category in this post, but I just want to mention Audacious as a the best open source music player and also to confuse people with Audacity and Tenacity.
You forgot vector-graphics stuff.
I believe Inkscape is the current leader of the open-source pack in that department.
Photo Editing: Gimp
I found "Darktable" so much more useful.
They serve completely different purposes.
I use Darktable for adjusting brightness, color, contrast, etc. and Gimp for actual editing (selection tools, brushes, filters, effects, etc.)I think you're underselling Darktable somewhat. Being able to use drawn and parametric masks for basically all the tools, and the granularity at which you can adjust the variables across the entire image makes it incredibly powerful for non-destructive editing of photos. There are also numerous filters and tools which can be used artistically.
But yes, for "photo-shopping" as opposed to photo editing you probably will want GIMP as well.
I have tried for very long time to do exactly what you describe here, without much success. Gimp was soo inconvenient to use.
Darktable is built for efficiency, like "Do these favorite filters on every picture at startup" or "Repeat my last editing steps on these 25 photos"
I think there is an important distinction here between photo editing and image manipulation. Similar the the relationship between Lightroom and Photoshop
I see this is free as in price, definitely not free as in freedom. Should delete the anti virus section and replace it with Linux lol.
OnlyOffice for office software.
I've never been super happy with Ardour. Using the in-distro build used to crash some years back, and more recently wasn't able to get it using some audio interface. And I'm not in love with the interface. But my impression from what I've read is that it's more on-par with other DAWs than Audacity is, does stuff like non-destructive editing. Audacity is, as I understand it, considered something of a lightweight application. If someone is looking for something more on par with some other DAW that they're familiar with, Ardour might be preferable.
I would add FreeCAD to 3d editing software.
Dafuq is freecad? It sounds waaaaaay too good to be true. Maybe above hot singles in your area want to fuck lol. I had a software I was using that let you use it free x amount of times but all you had to do was clear your cache/data each time it was triggered to expire and you had a fresh set of uses. Can't remember the name I'll jave to look it up.
It's not as intuitive as other comparable software, and has a fairly steep learning curve especially for beginners, but it is free. No subscription models that's plaguing the 3d modeling software field.
Check it out! https://www.freecad.org/ https://wiki.freecad.org/
WARNING Windows, Avast, Malwarebytes, anti-libre software bans us from removing malicous source code. Don't let this malware infect you.
It might be the lack of sleep, but what are you trying to say here?
your paint-dot-net link is... shouldn't be a link lol
paint.NET
escape the dot
Lol it's not a link in the markdown so it's just the Lemmy web UI making assumptions. Also it's funny that they don't own that domain.
Thanks for sharing this list of software tools! It's great to see a variety of options, including both FOSS and proprietary software.
Photo Editing: GIMP and Krita are excellent open-source tools, while Paint.NET offers a user-friendly interface. Video Editing: DaVinci Resolve is professional-grade, CapCut is perfect for social media, and Shotcut balances simplicity with features. Audio Editing: Audacity is versatile and open-source, while Cakewalk and GarageBand are great for music production. 3D Graphics: Blender is leading in open-source 3D modeling, with Spline and Rumba offering unique features. Office Software: LibreOffice is a robust open-source suite; Microsoft 365 Free Apps and WPS Office are excellent free alternatives. Antivirus: Windows Security provides reliable protection, with Avast and Malwarebytes adding extra layers of security. Productivity: Bitwarden for password management, VSCodium for coding, PDF-XChange for PDFs, 7-Zip for compression, OBS Studio for streaming, and LanguageTool for writing. This mix offers powerful solutions for various needs and preferences.
Audio editing is still shit. GarageBsnd is on Mac, Audacity has a stupid interface, Cakewalk is the first time I hear that name. On Linux, video editing tools are probably the only way to edit audio, and it's obviously lacking.
edit: Now I have stuff to try, thank you guys.
Cakewalk has been around for decades. It was a popular paid daw in the late 90s and 2000s. It became free a few years ago. Haven't used it lately. But, used it a lot many years ago. It was a top daw back in its day. I hear it's still pretty good.
Have you tried Ardour?
Agreed, I've had to mix an entire live show recently and Ardour + a few open source VSTs did the job wonderfully. Took me maybe an hour to get my bearings but it is very well done.
Fairlight, which is part of Da Vinci Resolve, is pretty powerful. I don't use Audacity because it's mostly a destructive workflow.
Needs more CAD
What would one use for something like editing photos into gifs. I would edit a lot of still images in photoshop using the puppet warp and the animation but haven't really found anything to do that
Krita & gimp both can handle that
I love Gimp. I was even using it as a sort of workaround free pdf editor for image/graphics h3avy pdf edits.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
https://m.piped.video/watch?v=2Vgzdj1xGw8
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.
Oh that's perfect thank you!
No WinRAR?
It is not free (which is the main goal of this list) or open source.
